After Returning, My Abilities are Infinite

Episode 133. The Great Overlord (2)

The four guardians.

They protected the Great Overlord, and the Great Overlord protected them.

As long as they existed, the Great Overlord maintained an invincible state where he doesn’t suffer damage from any kind of power. But fortunately, the Great Overlord was unaware of this yet.

‘In the past, we learned this thanks to Lee Young-ho.’

His full-fledged attack didn’t even leave a scratch on the Great Overlord’s body. Was it because there was a solid barrier cast around his body? Or was it because Lee Young-ho wasn’t powerful enough? It was neither.

The moment Lee Young-ho’s attack touched the Great Overlord, all physical forces were extinguished. We discovered it only then. That a ‘higher level’ power, completely different from defense skills or characteristics, had prevented the attack from harming the Great Overlord.

‘That caused so much grief.’

The four guardians didn’t accompany the Great Overlord. They hid around the world, and thanks to this, the Great Overlord wreaked all kinds of havoc while sustaining zero damage. Perhaps it was because of this waste of time that humankind fought with more difficulty.

‘I can’t let that happen this time.’

The Great Overlord had to be unaware that the four guardians make him immortal and indestructible. And before he found out, we had to eliminate the four guardians.

‘Then, at that moment, the Great Overlord will Awaken his powers… And that will mark the real beginning of the fight.’

Click, click.

I rearranged the joints of the Hunter suit. The parts that were slightly disjointed now moved smoothly.

I turned my head and looked at the people who had finished their preparations.

“The first and second guardians won’t be difficult to deal with.”

They all looked more nervous and determined than before.

But I had no intention of easing their pressure.

Right now, a little tension would help them stay alert.

A slightly rigid atmosphere would help us reach the perfect ending without making any mistakes.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

The guardians of the Great Overlord each had their peculiarities.

So, unless we understood their peculiarities well and were familiar with the attack strategies, they boasted a whole other difficulty level than level S or A monsters.

In the past, the Hunter team from the U.S. recklessly attempted to kill a guardian. Although they mobilized many Awakeners, they only caused the guardian minor damage before getting wiped out.

When dealing with the Guardian, the attack strategy was the most important.

“The first guardian and the second guardian are like a pair. One is blue and the other is red, like the Taegeuk symbol.”

“…….”

“They are officially called the ‘Twin Spirits’. They were named so because they both look like spirits and stick together. They are each vulnerable to things opposite their color. So, the blue one is vulnerable to fire and the red one is vulnerable to water. And since they are both spirits, they are vulnerable to divine power.”

“Divine power, fire, water……. They have more weaknesses than I thought.”

“Yes. Hunters in my past life thought so, too, before they got wiped out. They thought it wouldn’t be so difficult to deal with the monsters that had as many as three weaknesses.”

Most monsters inhabiting Rifts above a certain danger level had only one weakness or exposed their weaknesses under specific circumstances. So it wasn’t strange that the hunters thought, ‘They have three weaknesses, so they should be easy targets,’ or something along those lines……. Yeah. Even experienced hunters could have thought so.

“And they would have been right if they were ordinary monsters that the hunters knew about.”

“If they were ordinary monsters?”

“The Twin Spirits do not die unless both of them die at the same time. You have to kill them exactly at the same time, down to the split-second. That is the only way to eliminate them.”

“…What?”

“And because they are spirits, they ignore all physical interference. Physical attacks or binding them to restrict their movements don’t work. So, you can’t hold them still and kill them at the same time.”

It took a very long time to find this out. It was information obtained only after the U.S. Hunter team was wiped out and nearly half of the U.K’s follow-up team was killed.

“Is it… is it possible?”

“It is.”

He nodded at the concerned question. Yes, it was possible.

I knew because I saw it with my own eyes.

“If you know exactly how they will move, and if you can practically read their minds like an old friend after undergoing countless analyses and sacrifice…….”

“…….”

“If you can figure out where they will go with your eyes closed, and when they will cross paths with each other down to one-tenth of a second, it isn’t so difficult.”

Brrr!

The Mirage slowly changed its shape. The colorfully shining light became a long curve and soon swelled into the form of a bow in my hand. One red arrow and one blue arrow were strung on the bow. The Mirage had read my mind and created arrows with fire and water properties.

Two weapons that could each kill the blue one and the red one instantly.

From now on, I had to drop two flying birds at the same time without making a single mistake.

“Lee Jin-woo.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Let me borrow your ability for a second.”

And I had a friend next to me whose ability was the most efficient at delivering surprise attacks.

* * *

“Okay, I understand what your plan is… But how are we going to find them? You know how huge the Land of Death is.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find them soon. They’re going to pass this way, so we just have to wait.”

“Wait, how long!?”

Lee Jin-woo yelled under his breath. Right now, we were hiding underneath leaves. We had been hiding under a pile of rotten leaves for hours, with my bowstring pulled tight.

“I don’t get disgusted by most things… But this is too much.”

There were dead bugs under the fallen leaves, and there was a terrible smell. Since there wasn’t enough space under the leaves, Lee Jin-woo, who specialized in surprise attacks, and I, who copied his ability with the Akashic Records, were the only ones waiting for the Twin Spirits to appear.

“And, are you sure they’re going to pass through here?”

“Yeah. We threw in a bait, remember?”

“You can lure them with a bait like that? Really?”

Lee Jin-woo said in a dissatisfied voice.

The bait I cast was simple. It was a small monster that belonged to Queen Han Yeon-soo’s army. It had no combat capability, and its only ability was to use smell. It emitted the smell of predators to drive away stronger monsters and emitted a sweet odor to lure weaker monsters.

“They’ll definitely fall for it. Strong or weak, monsters are very simple.”

I assured Lee Jin-woo. The Twin Spirits would definitely fall for this bait. The bait would emit the smell of the strongest predator it could to survive in this dangerous area. And the Twin Spirits were the type that found odors like that more attractive.

‘They feed on spirits, so physical strength doesn’t hinder them. A monster that looks strong on the outside but empty on the inside would be their most ideal prey.’

The smell of a predatory monster would create the shell of a large and ferocious monster. The Twin Spirits would see the feeble bait hiding inside. And they would mistake the discrepancy for a creature with a weak spirit that was strong on the outside. Then, they would come hunting for it right away.

If it was extremely weak on the inside with a lot to eat on the outside, that meant it was the perfect type of prey for the Twin Spirits.

And, at that moment.

The rotten branches suddenly snapped, and the temperature fell. The leaves on the ground suddenly rose into the air, and nearby objects froze.

“Wh… what’s going on?”

“Be quiet. They’re here.”

It was a phenomenon that mainly occurred when Spirit species monsters appeared. Their power was so much more powerful than ordinary monsters that they tended to warp the environment just by appearing.

“Lee Jin-woo, shoot it at my signal.”

The cold wind kept blowing. The leaves that were concealing us scattered. A few more seconds and our camouflage would be useless. We just needed a few seconds. The change in the environment meant that they were very close.

“…Okay.”

I held onto the tight bow. Mana climbed up my finger and twirled around the arrowhead.

[‘First-strike Victory’ has been activated.]

Simultaneously, the power that originally belonged to Lee Jin-woo began to awaken. The original power began to open his eyes. It was a power borrowed through Link. A weapon that was more powerful than anything else when it came to surprise attacks. A force that could kill anyone in an instant. The system’s mysterious force filled the bow and arrow.

“Krr… krrrrrrr?”

Han Yeon-soo’s bait began to turn its head around violently. The rapid temperature change and strong winds. It had instinctively felt the strange atmosphere.

“Krr….”

And the moment the bait was about to move.

“Rrr… ragh!”

The bait rose up into the air as if a transparent hand had snatched it up. They were here. I couldn’t see them, but I could tell. Everything around me told me that the Twin Spirits had appeared.

“Lee Jin-woo, now!”

The moment I shouted, Lee Jin-woo threw the flashbang in his hand. Along with the sound of something burning, a flame flared up. And the next moment, a blinding light engulfed the surrounding area.

It looked like a simple flashbang, but it was extremely effective. It was an artifact consisting of mana of Divine power properties and was the most efficient tool you could use when dealing with spirits.

“Kyyyaaaaa!”

The Twin Spirits slowly appeared above the bait. Spirit-type species above a certain level had the basic ability to conceal themselves. And this was the item used to identify them visually. It was named the Eye of Truth.

Thanks to Lee Jin-woo activating First-strike Victory, they screamed and writhed in pain from the light.

They probably had a few mechanisms to defend against Divine power properties, but Lee Jin-woo’s ability ignored all of that. Right now, the Twin Spirits were practically naked and covered in poison.

“It won’t be like last time, you bastards.”

I slowly raised my bow and aimed at them. I could see the red one and the blue one moving in perfect order. my head drew their trajectory.

To their usual movements, I status was abnormal and that a bait was in front of them. The detailed settings read their movements more precisely.

Every single tremor and movement. Their psychology and objective.

It all came to mind in an instant.

Twang.

With a heavy sensation, two arrows left my hand. They flew in a straight line—the red arrow towards the blue one, the blue arrow towards the red one. The opposite colors penetrated the two spirits in their vital points with pinpoint accuracy and spread their powers evenly.

“Kiyyyaaaaa!”

A loud, sky-splitting sound burst out from the two spirits. And the floating bodies of the Twin Spirits slowly began to melt down.

I looked at the two dying spirits indifferently as they screamed desperately. It was no different from looking at a lifeless stone on the ground.

“If you’re going to die, die quietly. I’ll wrap the other two up nicely along with the Great Overlord and send them your way.”